EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — If Michael Vick could play cornerback, he might have prevented one, two, three, four or all five of the touchdown passes Eli Manning threw Sunday.

If Michael Vick played defensive tackle, he might have stopped the New York Giants from averaging 5.3 yards per carry in their 42-7 victory over the Eagles.

If he were the kicker, he might not have hooked a 28-yard field goal attempt.

If he were on the offensive line, he might have given the quarterback more time to throw.

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“Sometimes, I wish I could play other positions,” Vick said at the conclusion of the Birds’ 4-12 season. “But I can’t. So you do the best you can. That’s all you can ask of yourself.”

For the first time in seven games Sunday, Vick played quarterback, replacing Nick Foles, who had a broken hand. On his fourth play, he fumbled. On his fifth, he threw an interception. And after the game, he threw open that customarily taboo topic, implying that he could have done better than some teammates, at whatever position.

“Let’s clear this up,” he said. “I am not saying that my teammates gave a lack of effort and I noticed it. I just know we can play better. That’s what I’m saying. I mean, we’re down, 21-nothing, and the first quarter is not even over. So what is that? We don’t know. But as the same time, you still have to battle through, you still have to fight through.

“I just noticed it. It’s a big difference than what we were going through last year and the year before. And it shouldn’t be that way. And I have to sit here and be candid right now. And if every guy in that locker room was to come to this podium, they should say the same thing I said, verbatim. So, it is what it is. There is nothing else to talk about. I wish all the guys the best in that locker room. And we’ll see what happens.”

Vick settled after the first-possession problems, completing 19 of 35 passes for 197 yards, including a touchdown to Jeremy Maclin. He was sacked once, mixed in 25 rushing yards and did enough, it seemed, to meet what had to be his secondary objective.

The first was to win. After that, it was to show that he could still be a useful starting quarterback in the NFL, even though it is not likely to be next season in Philadelphia.

“Listen, I’m proud of him for going out and getting in there and competing,” Andy Reid said. “I thought he did some good things. He was a little rusty, I thought, in the beginning. But I thought he did some good things.”

In four seasons with the Eagles after being jailed in connection with animal abuse, Vick did plenty of things, many good, some not so much. At 32, it would cost the Eagles $16 million to employ him next season, but only $4 million to set him free. There is also the possibility that he could renegotiate his contract and remain with the Birds at a lower cost.

But when asked Sunday if he wanted to be back, Vick hardly broke into an E-A-G cheer.

“I mean, I don’t know,” he said. “I have to just take some time to think about everything that happened this season and reflect on it. I can take the positives away, as far as what I was able to accomplish. I wish we could have accomplished more with my teammates but I don’t know right now. I just need some rest.”

With the Eagles ineligible for the postseason, that rest can begin at once. His problem Sunday was that the Birds, as a team, might have begun resting during the game.

“I don’t know how that happens,” said Vick, who was replaced by Trent Edwards for the Birds’ final possession. “I mean, you watch us play and we don’t exhibit the things that we do in practice. So I don’t know where that comes from. I know that it’s frustrating and difficult because, me, I leave it all out on the field and I give it everything I’ve got. Football means a lot to a lot of the guys in the locker room, and I know it means a lot to me. And I give it everything I’ve got whenever I step on the field, regardless of the situation, coming back after eight games, I don’t care.

“I give it everything I’ve got. That’s something I can be proud of.”

Vick appeared in 10 games this season, throwing 12 touchdown passes and being intercepted 10 times, suffering a concussion and essentially losing his first-string status to Foles.

“Listen,” Reid said. “He’ll have better days ahead of him.”

Reid, too, may have some more enjoyable professional hours, though they will not be in Philadelphia.

“He is a great man and I love him to death,” Vick said. “And I wish we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. I wish I could have done more. Hopefully, a lot of players in that locker room right now wish they could have done more. Coach didn’t go out and play the games. He coached.

“That’s our responsibility to go out and make it right. And we didn’t do that.”